Wow!!! It’s been forever since I have torn through a book as furiously as I read All of Us Villains. This is by far my favorite book of the year and it deserves all of the stars!
Books with multiple perspectives often confuse me but this was done sooo well and had me confused on who to root for and become attached too. I loved that it shocked me and had me at the Edge of my seat almost the entire time!
If you are a fan of morally gray characters, tournaments/competitions and magic then this will be your next favorite book.
Thank you so much to Netgalley and the publishers for this free eARC in exchange for an honest review!

All of Us Villains by Amanda Foody is a superb book with an engrossing plot and well drawn characters. Well worth the read!

These characters are not your heroes. These characters are broken and bruised but desperate and hungry enough to wield their bitterness like weapons; these characters are villains, indeed.
The premise really caught my eye, and so did the story, never failing to keep me hooked and eager to find out what's next. All sorts of tension are at play here, and it's absolutely gratifying to see how it unfolds, especially as the story builds up to who might as well be the true villain of this story (who I caught onto early on in the story!)
The magic system is fun to read and easy to understand. As the story unfolds, things get murkier and we get to bend certain things without losing the believability of the magic. In fact, the stakes get raised even higher for our villains!
And that ending! Wow.
We shall see if the sequel will be just as dark, if not darker than this great start to a twisted duology.

** Thanks to Netgalley and Macmillian/Tor-Forge for providing me with the e-ARC for an honest review **

4 STARS

All of Us Villains was very different than I expected. I walked into it expecting it to be a The Hunger Games knockoff, but found that it was quite different. This book was enjoyable enough and would be helpful in getting out of a reading slump.

All of Us Villains is a young adult fantasy co-writing debut of Amanda Foody and Christine Lynn Herman. I haven't read any of their books, so I walked into this one with fresh eyes. In the city of Ilvernath, there is a tournament that sends one child from seven families to compete to death in order to gain exclusive control over the magick supply. Our main characters are Alastair Lowe, the projected victor of the tournament, whose family has won in many previous years; Isobel Macaslan, a young girl torn between loyalty to her family and her unwillingness to play a part in the tournament; Gavin Grieves, the underdog who is determined to bring honor to his family; and Briony, who has wanted northing more than to be a part of the tournament and prove her worth.

I liked the worldbuilding in this book. It wasn't anything super unique, but enjoyed how there were elements of the real world that were incoporated. However, it felt a bit underdeveloped at some parts, as if the authors only half-explained some important components. This wasn't a huge issue, as it was fairly easy to understand, but overall it felt a bit weak. I really liked the characters in All of Us Villains. They weren't as "morally-grey" and "bloodthirsty" as I had anticipated, but I felt that they all were well developed. My favorite character is definitely Gavin, as I feel he is the most relateable of all of them and I always have a soft spot for the underdogs. I also enjoyed Alastair and his thoughts during his chapters. I didn't particularly like Briony, but her character was interesting in the way she reacted to situations. Isobel's character felt somewhat superficial, and I couldn't really connect with her compared to the other characters. Although I was hooked immediately with this book, I wish that it wasn't so rushed at the end. However, my biggest problem with this book was the lack of characters of color. None of the main characters appeared to be people of color, which was disappointing. I feel like there was such an opportunity to note the privilege of certain characters in this book, especially since it seemed like the book was hinting at it.

Overall, this book was pretty well-written.

I do not think I have the bandwidth remaining to explain how much I loved this story having just finished it. I am blown away- with a story pitched as The Hunger Games but just more of everything, it definitely lived up to my expectations and in some ways, exceeded them.

All of us Villains by Amanda Foody and Christine Herman was an intoxicating read. A book that draws you in and ensures you'll never feel safe again. They, as authors, are not afraid to upset the reader and whilst I admire them for this, I also hate them a little too. The ending to the story made me want the second immediately and without saying too much, you'll torment yourself until the release date of book 2.

The characters are clever, strong, dangerous, evil and extremely likeable. I don't think there's one I can't at least empathise with. The curse that plagues their city and allows one family each generation access to higher magic demands sacrifice in the form of a Battle Royale and Hunger Games -esque child fight. This is the story at its very core and boy do they know how to add more and more until the tournament is almost not as interesting as every plot twist or alliance that is forged or broken. The pace of the novel is fast and unforgiving, don't fall behind or you'll regret it!

I am entranced by this world building and the politics of it all, surrounded by magic and curses and an extremely unique magic system that is explained so perfectly that I'm convinced I could conjure some now. In short, this book is racing towards a finish line the Hunger Games could never cross. I love this book and I reckon most other YA/NA readers will too.

First and foremost- credit where credit is due. Of all the many( and I really do mean many) books with teenagers fighting to the death, this one has the most realistic reason for all the killing. `Full control over the last remaining high magic? Heck yeah- send 'em in! It does help that almost all the characters are totally into it too...

But now let's be real. This has still been done before. This wasn't special, but it tried SO hard to be special that at times the 'dark' vibes were almost cringey? The writing was over the top but with the label of whimsical. I get it, all of these teens have replaced their sex drive with a need for vengeful murder. Not everything needs to be a metaphor for it though.

Saying all of this, I'm also not upset at this book. Yeah, it is a copy of a copy, but even the hunger games was based off of Battle Royal! And the twist of having it from multiple POV's of people needing to kill each other was pretty awesome. And yes I got attached. Thanks for that by the way...*sobbing*
And then Alistair and Gavin... my heart! I know it basically is compulsory for this type of book to have a tragic romance, but the fact that they are both kinda evil? That just adds a level of tension that is hard to beat.

Now the magic system. It was a hot mess express of ambiguous limits and faulty logic. It is also a total pet peeve of mine for magic systems that don't have set out boundaries and rules. But it was also kinda fun? Basically it was a fun idea- I just like having set out rules. (Wow that sounded sad)

Overall this was some dark fun. Nothing special, but enjoyable.

I received a physical ARC of this book after I requested this, but I got approved for this anyway. Cool!

All of Us Villains is one of my favorite reads of the year. While the story itself wasn’t really my thing, the characters kept me hooked. I started off loving Briony, but then I started really liking Isobel! She’s definitely my favorite in this series so far! Although, I did find myself loving all of the main characters by the end.

I’m on the edge of my seat waiting for the sequel!

“All of Us Villains” by Amanda Foody and Christine Lynn Herman is a dark-themed, vicious battle of dark magic between a group of villainous teenagers who aren’t afraid to kill to get what they want. A razor-sharp read, full of tension, violent magic, and morally grey characters that aren’t often seen in YA Fantasy Novels.

Foody and Herman have done a brilliant job setting up a dark, deceptive world in which magic plays a huge part in family rivalries and the long-standing history of tournaments ending with bloodshed. Within the first few pages the atmosphere is established as tense, moody, and emotionally heavy. Each main character is followed up with a heavy and tragic past of slaughter and violence that establishes the reputation they are meant to live up to—whether they want it or not. Having an extensive history to refer to creates a different kind of connection to the cast of characters than in traditional YA novels.

Readers can look forward to the imagination that went into inventing a magic system that precedes expectations by breaking the stereotypes and cliches a reader typically predicts in the fantasy genre. Usually, it is highly fantastical or something similar to witchcraft and in this case, it’s a blend of both. Somehow, having people who possess magic but rely on magical objects to cast spells is an interesting route to take that works well in the novel.

Where it falls short is not too long after the tournament begins. It has nothing to do with the events that took place but the pacing of them. It’s already a pretty long book, but it would’ve been beneficial to have given these events a bit more space to create an emotional response even the readers can feel. It’s easy to see and understand why the characters are hurting but there isn’t much reason to care for their pain.
It’s also a bit disappointing that the characters aren’t more … corrupt. Innately, the characters seem like good people who are forced to do bad things, which perhaps is what makes them corrupt. Though the title and summary suggest they are evil, villainous, and immoral people who—as in The Hunger Games—have no qualms about killing to get what they want. If there was a suffocating sense of desperation to hunt down and kill one’s rivalries to win the reward, then it wouldn’t have felt as though the characters wouldn’t have felt too internally pure.

“All of us Villains” as a whole was far from disappointing. Foody and Herman deliver a wicked tale with morally ambiguous characters, grotesque spells that will make readers shudder, and an overall thrilling tale. Though it wasn’t as expected, readers are still going to enjoy this tale and will surely devour it in one sitting. It’s an intense and wild ride from the first page, so keep a lookout for this novel on its expected publication date of November 9th, 2021.

Thank you to Netgalley and Macmillan-Tor (Forge) for providing me with a free e-arc to share my honest thoughts and opinions in this review.

❝The only thing worse than making another champion your enemy is making them a friend.❞

Murder, magic, teens fighting to the death, betrayals... All of Us Villains was one of my most anticipated reads of 2021. The premise and characters, this sounded brilliant especially as it was pitched as the next The Hunger Games I was so excited!

Unfortunately this failed to deliver for me, it felt kind of lacklustre? The threats didn't feel as high as they were meant to, the murder was dialled down to about 2/10, and the two girls' narratives (Briony and Isobel) were quite similar so it was sometimes hard to discern which perspective I was reading from.

Don't get me wrong, this had some great moments that stood out. I loved the relationship between Alastair and his brother Hendry. I liked the relationship between Alastair and Isobel. I liked how Alastair was such a rich character, he had many sides to him and he's not quite the villain you expect. (Can you tell who my favourite was yet? lol) I liked how most of the characters had their own motives and felt well fleshed out. I wonder why the authors decided to only include the perspectives from four contestants (Alastair, Briony, Isobel and Gavin) and then there were three others that I didn't really care about, we don't get to read from their viewpoint so we don't get to connect with them unfortunately.

❝Monsters couldn't harm you if you were a monster, too.❞

The plot was good, I liked the pacing and the drama does build but it didn't feel like high stakes. There were some shocking moments, such as the lengths some families and people will go to in order to win this tournament. I really enjoyed the aspect of magical jewellery containing spells and curses, this was one of my favourite parts of the book and the use of magic was explained well. I liked the romance between certain characters, it has the 'only one bed' trope and a suggestive 'make me' comment among many other cute moments, which I enjoyed!

I liked the world-building but it felt a bit rushed at times, I wanted more. Some families houses were described in a lot of detail, whereas others felt like it was just brushed over.

❝Full of dark-stained pine wood and iron candlebras, it was where maidens pricked their fingers on spinning wheels, where every fruit tasted of poison and vice.❞

All of Us Villains is half of a duology, and this ends on a big cliffhanger. I was left with more questions than answers at the ending and this left me unsatisfied. I will read the next instalment to see how it ends as I need answers to my questions.

3 out of 5 stars overall.

*Thank you to the publishers for allowing me to read this in exchange for an honest review

CW/TWs:
•murder
•toxic relationships
•violence
•blood
•death
•grief
•emotional abuse
•emetophobia
•generational trauma

Honestly… this book was amazing. The four character POVs were what I needed and each character was written so well. I honestly have no idea how I’m going to wait so long for the next book. Gosh I loved this so much, I doubt I’ll stop talking about it.

3.5 stars, rounded up

I'm not usually one for villain stories. Even morally grey characters aren't always my jam. But I ended up enjoying this.

I think that the characters and the world both get an equal amount of time to shine. Maybe occasionally the two main female character's POVs sounded a little similar and I'd have to take a moment to remind myself who was narrating, but they were both still good characters. The two main male characters felt different enough and were both interesting.

I really liked the magic Hunger Games setting. It definitely felt Hunger Games-y, but had enough to set it apart.

Also, even though it's definitely Hunger Games-esque, this felt unique enough to stand out in a crowd of overwhelmingly similar YA fantasies. I actually think I'll still remember enough from this one that I won't have to read a recap when the next book in the series comes out. (although I do kinda wish it had been a standalone....)


Thank you to NetGalley and Macmillan-Tor/Forge for the advance copy.

It's not the journey that mattered but the villains we met along the way.

Full review at A Book Shrew

First off, I had extremely high expectations for this book. Like, sky high. I vowed I would give a limb to read this early and I'm fairly certain half my soul was taken in return for the physical ARC I now hold (shoutout to Raincoast Books and Amanda Foody for that). And somehow, despite all that, this book still shattered every one of my expectations. AoUV is incredible. As far as dual-author books go, this was such a compelling and cohesive story. The writing style is impeccable, the story beautifully crafted with multi POVs, and full of so much emotion poured directly into the characters at its heart.

This book did not come to play. It is dark and ruthless thanks to the cursed tournament that has taken place every 20 years for the last eight centuries. When the Blood Moon appears, the seven major families of Ilvernath have one month to prepare their champion before the Blood Veil falls, and the games begin. The Tournament can only end one of two ways. Either one champion kills the other six with the magic at their disposal or through brute force, or all seven die at the end of three months. The prize for the winning family: control of high magick, the most powerful and rare type of magic known to man. This year, the Tournament has been thrust into the international spotlight after a book was published spilling all the gory details of the town, the families, and the curse. The government is trying to intervene where they can, reporters tail each champion, and people are desperate to know these reluctant celebrities.

Like I said, the characters at the center of this story are what made it sing. Each champion is so thoughtfully created, and not a single one of them enters the Blood Veil without something wrong or unexpected happening beforehand. The stakes were truly unparalleled. Seven are trapped inside the Blood Veil, but only four matter to us.

Alistair Lowe is arguably my favourite. The Lowes have won the Tournament the most, and Alistair is the most dangerous, the most powerful, the most villainous of the champions. He knows it too, even though he wishes he weren't sometimes.

Isobel Macaslan is my second favourite. She never wanted to be her family's champion, but somehow became the international face of the Tournament. She is not locally liked, though, thanks to her magic-scavenging family, which could prevent her from getting cursemaker sponsorship.

Gavin Grieve is from the weakest and least liked family in Ilvernath, a problem not helped by the fact that an anonymous Grieve has been credited with publishing the damning tell-all. He has zero hope in winning the Tournament, and he is determined to prove everyone wrong.

Briony Thorburn is the most ambitious of the champions. Her entire life she has trained to be her family's champion, but when her sister is named as champion instead at the government's request, she spirals hard.

The villain angle is so fascinating because of these characters and their motives. Alistair is fashioned as THE villain but I think the true villain is actually [REDACTED] Each character has their own questionable reasons for their behaviour, but they also have seriously solid ones that stem from their individual families, their childhoods, and the expectations that have been set both by themselves and their families, all in the name of glory. It's hard to stay good in the face of all that and death.

I don't know how I'll be able to wait until the next book. I was very curious how this would carry on as a duology, but know that Foody and Herman have laid out some fabulous stepping stones for what promises to be an explosive conclusion.

This creepy tale of magick pits friends, loved ones, and enemies against each other in a quest for control and power. A powerful curse forces a group of young people to fight to the death every 20 years to see who gets to control the the magick that rules the world. Can the curse be broken?

I enjoyed reading this book and look forward to the next installment.

I love both of these authors, so I knew I had to read this. I was not disappointed! There really isn't much to say about it other than if you like Hunger Games and usually root for the villain, this is 100% the book for you.

The world building, and creation of both the magical system and the magical competition combined with the great writing made this a "couldn't put down read for me". It was probably a 4 to 5 Star read for me up until the last 25%. I definitely had a little bit of a love/hate thing going on here. Not going to lie, the last quarter wiped me out emotionally. I was so into it and then....ooofta, the two characters I actually cared about turned directions and I kind of wanted to throw the book across the room. Which is a good sign that the authors definitely had me -I got all whipped up and was so excited and then (bwahaha authors cackling) kaboom they wiped me out - and now i'm still picking up my little sentimental bits off the floor...
**Thank you to both NetGalley and TOR Teen for an eARC of this in exchange for my honest review**

So its hard for me to accurately rate this one. Once I can read a sequel and move past this downer part of the story might I look back on the first book without so much disappointment? Possibly, and more than likely. It definitely might be one of those series that's better for me to read once the sequel has come out so I don't have to dwell in this depressing ending and not be able to move on yet to better things. I know its trendy currently to end a book with a character entering their "dark night of the soul" arc, but I hate it, and if the next book isn't currently available I dislike it even more. And here we had several characters all heading into that arc at the same time so...yeah not my favorite ending - all I have to say is if at least one of those two doesn't have a redemptive arc (and stop being an idiot) in the next book then I am definitely throwing that book across the room.

All that being said there's plenty of people who will eat this up, and be far less traumatized emotionally than I (particularly Teen and NA audiences). Hence why I still gave it a 4 Star rating, I fully recognize my emotional response/irritation will probably not be the typical one (I'm not gonna lie I don't do well when authors add bad things onto bad choices, onto more bad things happening, onto more bad choices etc. I need a rainbow in there somewhere:)

I'm really torn about this one. All of Us Villains has a slow but intriguing start, and we're nearly half-way through by the time the Hunger Games comparisons start to really come into play. However, I was engrossed the whole way through - I enjoyed learning more about these characters, and the last half is much more action packed, with plenty of twists and turns.
There are some flaws here though. Despite being a huge fan of novels with multiple POVs, I didn't always feel that the different characters had solid enough personalities to make it work in this case. I sometimes had difficulty keeping track of who was who.
Ultimately, the biggest let-down here was the very abrupt ending, which dragged my rating down from a solid 3.5 (with moments of 4), to a 3. Everything felt quite rushed, and there was no feeling of conclusion at all. I was once sent an incomplete ARC by mistake, and this honestly felt like that - I get that there's a second book (although I foolishly assumed this was a standalone going into it), and can appreciate the decision to end the first installment at this point, but it didn't feel like a fully formed cliffhanger either. I want to know what happens next, but I'm not sure if I'll remember everything that happened by the time the sequel comes out. I can see myself picking it up, as I certainly had a great experience reading this book until its climax, but my ultimate feeling is sadly one of disappointment.
Thanks to Orion and Netgalley for the ARC.

I absolutely enjoyed this book - honestly when I started it I didn't realize it was a series and was getting really worried as I neared the end of the book with some very major plot points still outstanding!

The vibe is absolutely The Hunger Games with magic and at times... the results of that magic was quite gory which I loved! This title is absolutely fitting for the novel as well - it's hard to determine who I was cheering for most but Alistair seems to hold a special place in my heart.

I hope we get more villainy in the second installment but what a great start to a new series!

Thank you for the opportunity to read early!

And Then There Were None meets the Triwizard Tournament meets To Best the Boys in this book. Although the numerous POVs can be rather daunting, the premise is interesting enough that you don't get bogged down. The intrigue and characters work quite well together, and overall this was a very enjoyable book. I can't wait for the second book! Thank you to NetGalley and Amanda Foody for sending me an E-ARC in exchange for an honest review.

This was so much fun to read! It lost me at some point around the middle but then it picked up and the ending was great.

I would have liked it to be a bit more villain-y to be honest but I enjoyed it anyway and I'll be waiting (FOREVER) for the next book.

This is one of my favorite books of the year and I cannot wait to get my hands on a physical copy.

Every 20 years, the Blood Veil falls over the town of Ilvernath and 7 champions are forced to compete in a cursed fight to the death in order to claim the last bit of high magic left in the world. These champions, known as the Slaughter Seven, come from 7 different families—the Lowes (the most vicious and mysterious of them all; notorious for the most amount of kills and wins, and currently the holders of the magic hoard), the Macaslans (known for their connection to the dead and the dirty way they made their fortune—by taking it from the dead at their funerals), the Darrows (known for their knowledge and wisdom), the Paynes (known for their no-nonsense attitudes and haughtiness), the Grieves (a family known for their failure to ever win and their alcoholism) and the Thorburns (known for their wealth and love for the spotlight, they are the sweethearts of the competition).

I have read some excellent books so far, but I am really expecting big things from this one. It had a Hunger Games-feel to it that I loved, but it added in magic. There was the dark enemies-to-lovers romance and one-bed trope (no smut though, which is good for YA). There were a whole lot of morally gray characters and a bit of the found family trope mixed in. I had 822 highlights to sift through because there were so many parts of the book that were just too good. I absolutely loved this book!